City Council

1 Borough of Akron Council Meeting-July 8, 2024 2 3 Council Members Present: Nathan Imhoff-President; Justin Gehman, Vice-President; Kleon 4 Zimmerman, Paul Swangren, Jr., Ryan Cochran, Tonya Haynes, Bonnie Young (Zoom), Max 5 Herman-Junior Council Member 6 7 Others Present: Mayor John McBeth, Sean Molchany, Borough Manager; Susan Davidson, Asst 8 Borough Manager; Suzanne Lausch, Minute Taker 9 10 Visitors: 11 John Taylor, 216 S 8th St Akron 12 West Earl Police Officer Mitchell Rogers 13 Sue Glick, 119 S. Tenth St. Akron 14 Martin Sweigart, 319 Fulton St. Akron 15 Robert Weaver, HVMI 16 Jaclyn and Sam Hurst, 699 Broad St. Akron 17 Alyssa Vasyanovich 639 Fulton St. Akron 18 Anthony Schaeffer, Main St. Akron 19 Roll Call 20 Kleon Zimmerman-present 21 Paul Swangren, Jr-present 22 Ryan Cochran-present 23 Bonnie Young-present via Zoom 24 Tonya Haynes-present 25 Nathan Imhoff President-present 26 Justin Gehman Vice President-present 27 Mayor John McBeth-present 28 Max Herman-Junior Council Member-present 29 30 Meeting opened at 6:30 with the Pledge of Allegiance. 31 32 Approval of Minutes 33 Ryan Cochran made a motion to approve the Borough of Akron Council meeting minutes for 34 June 24, 2024; second by Tonya Haynes 35 Discussion: none 36 Motion approved 37 38 39 Visitors/Comments from Public 40 Anthony Schaeffer mentioned that he is waiting on an e-mail from Council in regards to the 41 ordinance on chickens. Nathan Imhoff stated that he sent a response and will send it again. 42 43 Jaclyn Hurst from 699 Broad Street requested information on how to start getting a street light 44 on Broad Street. Sean Molchany, Borough Manager mentioned the next step would be staff 1  1 looking at the area and then Council will discuss and advise. Council could ask for a petition of 2 the neighborhood if necessary. Molchany mentioned the process can takes up to eight months 3 to two years. 4 5 Bills 6 Ryan Cochran made a motion to approve the July 2024 Borough of Akron disbursements and 7 fund the appropriate account for the disbursements as reviewed by the Finance committee. 8 Second by Kleon Zimmerman 9 Motion carried 10 Reports/Announcements 11 Police 12 Officer Mitchell Rogers was present at the meeting. The current Police report was sent to 13 Council and Mayor. Officer Rogers mentioned that a new police officer is being sworn in tonight 14 during the West Earl Supervisors meeting. 15 Mayor Report 16 None 17 Mayor McBeth mentioned that he attended the Cocalico Historical Society event and shared 18 how Denver Borough got its name. 19 Manager’s Report 20 Administration & Finance 21 June 2024 month -end financials have been reconciled. 22 July 2024 payables was reviewed by Finance Committee. 23 Parks & Property 24 Stream Embankment/Rain Garden plans have been submitted to the state for permitting. Staff 25 continues to meet with the Borough engineer to review the next steps as we move forward 26 with the project. Bids were opened on June 26, 2024. Aquatic Resource gave the low bid at 27 $749, 889.15 and Flyway Excavating gave bid of $798,888.00. The bid came in higher than 28 expected but our engineer is optimistic that the Borough can get additional grant money for 29 this project from SRBC. This would come under the same SRBC grant and the grant would have 30 to be updated by resolution. 31 Bid/Construction Schedule: 32 Project awarded-July8, 2024 33 Notice to Proceed: August 6, 2024 34 End construction (90-day contract): November 4, 2024 35 The garage at Pavilion 1 in Roland Park has been cleaned out (not entirely) by Frank Wolf. 36 Streets 37 Highland Alley paving is set for August 5, 2024. 38 Traffic signal update-The Borough authorized TRG to begin the permit process on June 10, 39 2024. 40 Staff requested that C.S. Davidson prepare and submit an emergency highway occupancy 41 permit to PennDOT for the sanitary sewer repairs on N. Farmersville Road. 42 TRG is a traffic engineer company working within Lancaster and York counties 43 Public Utilities 44 Sewer flow numbers are down and the borough is out of penalty 2  1 It is anticipated that Entech will deliver a draft report on the Borough standpipe to the Borough 2 by July 12, 2024 and will be on the agenda for July 22, 2024 council meeting for discussion. 3 Water tables are currently fine 4 Community Relations 5 Mitch & the Mood Swings Concert was cancelled for Sunday June 30, but the rain date is 6 Sunday, July 28, 2024. 7 Movie Nights at the Broad Street Park is hosted by Cultivate Church in Akron and movies are 8 scheduled for Fridays: July 26, August 16 and September 20, 2024. The borough did receive a 9 certificate of insurance because this is not a Borough sponsored event. 10 Planning & Zoning 11 No Zoning hearings scheduled at this time. 12 C.S. Davidson is recommending based on their inspection of installed improvements for HVMI 13 that the security be reduced by $643,586.20 for a total remaining amount of $401,571.82. This 14 item will be on the July 8, 2024 council meeting agenda. 15 The building permit for 1015 &1019 Main Street for new construction has been submitted for 16 review by Bollinger Builders. 17 Personnel 18 Staff will contact Randy Gockley to check on the status of the draft. Staff is suggesting that 19 council waits to approve the plan until an Emergency Management Coordinator is appointed 20 and that individual has an opportunity to review the draft plan. 21 Emergency Management Coordinator update: Aaron Murray and Brian Brooks have both 22 withdrew their resumes for the position. A new resume was forwarded to the Personnel 23 Chairperson for review. 24 Justin Gehman has reached out to two potential Jr. Council members. Martin Sweigart and 25 Alyssa Vasyanovich will be attending the July 8, 2024 meeting. 26 Other Business 27 At the last liaison meeting in April 2024, staff noted that the current contract is up at the end of 28 2025 and it is never too late to start contract discussions. Staff did reach out to the West Earl 29 Manager to arrange a meeting time with council and supervisors to begin discussions. West Earl 30 did reach out with some dates in July. 31 Staff from West Earl and Akron Borough will meet again on July 17, 2024 to finalize plans for 32 the 2024 National Night Out Event scheduled for August 6, 2024 at the Broad Street Park. 33 The Ambulance Report was sent via e-mail per Council’s request. 34 Board Vacancies 35 Building Code Appeals Board 36 Vacancy Board 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 3  1 Finance-reviewed by Ryan Cochran 2 Fund balances June 30,2024 3 General Fund-$330.953.61 General Fund Reserves 4 Water Fund-$25,621.59 Restricted (Goal) $100,000.00 5 Sewer Fund-$161,721.64 Total-$100,00.00 6 Highway Aid-$179,898.57 7 General Fund Reserves 8 Restricted-$102,363.00 9 Operating-$137,679.85 10 Capital-$111,520.54 11 Total-$351,563.39 12 Water Fund Reserves 13 Restricted-$72,992.00 14 Operating-$168,695.65 15 Capital-$0.00 16 Total-$241,687.65 17 Sewer Fund Reserves 18 Restricted-$121,822.00 19 Operating-$189.514.04 20 Capital-$0.00 21 Total-$311,336.04 22 Capital Projects-$2051.90 23 Community Fund-$1703.59 24 Non-Uniform Pension-$3,764.64 25 Total-$1,610,302.62 26 Escrow-$15,193.41 27 Community Relations 28 Bonnie Young thanked Tonya Haynes for assisting in communication to Mitch and the Mood 29 Swings concert. 30 Bonnie will write a news release for National Day Out in the next couple weeks 31 Parks & Property 32 Roland Park project will be beginning in August, Tonya Haynes asked if the Borough has ever 33 used any of the bid companies prior to this project. Nathan Imhoff shared that the Borough had 34 Flyway Excavating do the stream embankment on Bomberger Road. Tonya asked how the 35 project would affect users of the Roland Park. Molchany mentioned areas will be fenced off as 36 the project progresses and will keep residents and the public updated on the progress of the 37 project and park availability. 38 Junior Council Members Report 39 Interview for 2024-2025 Junior Council Members 40 Justin Gehman again asked the Ephrata High School counselors to advise council on new Junior 41 Council members. Council asked each candidate for Junior Council member to share their 42 reasons for wanting to be on Akron Borough Council. 4  1 Alyssa Vasyanovich shared that she moved from Ephrata to Akron and enjoys living in Akron 2 and feels like the community is welcoming and friendly. She works as a delivery driver for JD 3 Pazzo. She would be honored to be selected to be a Junior Council member 4 Martin Sweigart shared that he will be a senior at Ephrata High School and lives in Akron. He 5 likes living in Akron and would like to be on the council to get experience and is interested in 6 Urban planning. He mentioned learning about leadership values and skills as a council 7 participant. 8 Tonya Haynes asked, “How do you see your role on council affecting your community as well as 9 Ephrata High School. Martin thought it would bring more connection between Ephrata and 10 Akron and improve Ephrata High School. Alyssa says she would like to share their perspective as 11 young adults in the community. 12 Bonnie Young complemented both Junior Council applicants on their desire to be Council 13 members. 14 Paul Swangren, Jr. shared that he saw that both of them are on the National Honor Society. 15 Alyssa participates in several band groups as well as German Honor Society. Martin is on cross 16 country, National German Honor Society participant-secretary and plays violin. The Jr. Council 17 appointment will be discussed at the next Personnel meeting. 18 Personnel Report 19 Paul Swangren, Jr. mentioned that the two Emergency Management Coordinator position 20 applicants withdrew their interest. Paul received information from another interested applicant 21 and Personnel Committee will review at the next Personnel meeting. Paul Swangren, Jr. also 22 mentioned the 2024-2025 Jr. Council member appointments will also be discussed at the July 23 22, 2024 Personnel meeting. 24 Streets Report 25 None 26 Public Utilities Report 27 none 28 Public Hearings/Presentations/Appointments 29 Old Business 30 New Business 31 A. Resolutions 32 B. Ordinances 33 C. Motions and Decisions 34 a. Tonya Haynes made a motion to award the low bid to Aquatic Resource for 35 Roland Park Project in amount not to exceed $749,889.15 second by Kleon 36 Zimmerman; motion carried 37 b. Paul Swangren, Jr., based on inspection of improvements, made a motion for 38 a security reduction of $643,586.20 for a total remaining amount to be 39 $401,571.82 for Handi-Vangelism Project second by Ryan Cochran; motion 40 carried 41 D. Acknowledgments 42 E. Other Business/Deliberations 43 F. Correspondence and Petitions 44 G. Executive Session 5  1 Executive Session 2 Additional Comment: 3 Ryan Cochran asked about street projects. Sean Molchany mentioned the Streets Committee 4 needs to meet to discuss future street plans. 5 6 Adjournment -Motion to adjourn was made by Justin Gehman.; second by Kleon Zimmerman 7 Motion carried. 8 9 Meeting adjourned at 7:38 p.m. 10 11 Respectfully submitted, 12 13 Susan Davidson 14 Assistant Borough Manager/Secretary 15 16 SD 6